Alipay+ Begins 2024 Global Travel Campaigns with Chinese New Year Drive for 8 million International Merchants
Over 8 million Alipay+ partner merchants around the world ready to welcome first full Greater China Chinese New Year cross-border travel boom since the pandemic;
Alipay+ has expanded global merchant coverage to drive cross-border mobile payment, particularly in key travel destinations such as Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Italy, France and the United Arab Emirates. The ecosystem now extends to leading regional national QR schemes in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea;
Alipay+ and destination markets partner to provide travel convenience and exclusive campaigns, while driving growth opportunities for businesses.
As Singapore, Thailand and more countries open borders visa-free to Chinese travellers, Alipay+, the cross-border mobile payments and marketing platform operated by Ant International, steps up the global travel drive for its hospitality and tourism partners on the eve of the first full Chinese New Year travel boom after the Covid pandemic.
Operating across 57 markets, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million global merchants cross-border to 1.5 billion accounts on over 25 leading e-wallets and payment apps. International travellers may pay online and offline with their home payment apps around the world with ease and security. Merchants utilize Alipay+ digital marketing and growth tools to build more effective consumer engagement at home and abroad.
As of January 2024, Alipay+ partner wallets and bank apps include Alipay (Chinese Mainland), AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), GCash (Philippines), TrueMoney (Thailand), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), OCBC Digital (Singapore) and more.
“2024 will be a exciting year for Alipay+ to unlock many digital innovations in online and offline cross-border commerce,” said Douglas L. Feagin, President of Alipay+. “As a global travel phenomenon, Chinese New Year is the perfect moment to kickstart our new range of partnerships, campaigns and product offerings to build a seamless and authentic travel experience and bring more business for merchants large and small.”
Exclusive campaigns to drive merchant growth and user savings
With the 2024 CNY holidays beginning on Feb 10th, China’s outbound travel bookings have surged more than 10 times compared to 2023. Top travel destinations include those with visa-free policy such as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia for Chinese tourists, alongside other popular destinations including Japan and South Korea. Cross-border consumption is expected to surge for other Asian origins too – in Singapore, for example, there was seven times increase in bookings for the Chinese New Year in 2023[2].
In Malaysia, shopping complexes are eagerly anticipating an increase in foreign tourist arrivals. While in Thailand, almost 1 million foreign visitors are expected, generating 28.4 billion baht (~US$800 million) for the local economy, with the highest arrivals expected to be tourists from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR
“Travel, especially international travel is clearly an anchor for national and regional prosperity in Asia and beyond,” said Feagin. “Alipay+ will continue to expand partnerships and our repertoire of digitalization tools to help communities thrive through cross-border travel and commerce. “